


Earth Adjacent

by Haggis (Karen121968)



Series: Dr Who Stuff [3]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Big Finish Audio, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-27 02:09:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13870863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karen121968/pseuds/Haggis
Summary: It seemed like just another Tuesday at the office until the phone call tipping them off to their latest artifact being stolen.Usual caveats, I'm not a scientist, doctor or soldier so let me know of any glaring factual errors and forgive me for the minor ones.Thanks for this one go out to Sandra for collecting a small group of Kate Stewart stalwarts on FB and Anne for answering the question I posted at stupid o'clock when Greyhounds were escaping me!Oh and it's Osgood's turn to be injured this time around, I do love bashing them around during mild peril :)





	1. Chapter 1

“Situation Colonel?” Kate shouted across the hangar before flinching as another bullet pinged off the top of the boxes she was hiding behind.

“Not great, ma’am” the Colonel replied, standing quickly and returning fire in the general direction of the soldiers who had them pinned down. “We’re running out of ammo and the cavalry are still twenty minutes out”

“Osgood!” Kate raised her voice against another volley of automatic gunfire, she knew from experience that her hearing would be affected for several days, assuming she survived to worry about her ears.

“Ma’am?” Osgood didn’t bother to turn round, almost all of her concentration on the small control panel in front of her.

“Whenever you’re ready” Kate sounded exasperated, she hadn’t really planned on being killed today and was annoyed that her Tuesday had gone downhill this quickly.

“Nearly” Osgood muttered, not really caring whether anyone could hear her as she reset two of the dials on her handheld gizmo and pointed it at the control panel again. “Yes!” she shouted, elated to have finally got the door open and only then tuning in to the chaos surrounding her. “Kate” she shouted, squeezing through the door and dropping to the floor in panic as gunfire pinged off the metal nearby.

“About bloody time” Kate took two deep breaths before signaling the Colonel and remaining troops. “Five rounds” she shouted and stood up, firing her handgun towards the small group of soldiers at the other end of the hangar, most of whom dived for cover themselves. The UNIT team provided cover fire for her to turn and run towards the door Osgood had managed to get open, diving through as the return fire came close.

“Kate” Osgood had only just managed to get out of the way of her boss as she came flying through the doorway. “Are you OK, did you get hit?” she slammed her hand against the door panel to close it again, wincing as bullets pinged off the outside.

“I am getting too old for this” Kate groaned, getting onto her hands and knees and doing a quick check to make sure nowhere was aching from a bullet wound. “Nothing a good hot bath and some decent whisky won’t fix” she stood up, holstering the gun which had ended up beside her on the floor. “Right, how do we get this thing up and running?”

Osgood took a puff of her inhaler, as Tuesday’s went this was one of the more taxing ones she’d had recently. “Looks like the main controls are over there” she gestured towards the end of the corridor.

“OK, let’s find the on-switch and weapons first” Kate dropped her raincoat on the floor and settled her jacket properly, absently tucking her t-shirt into her trousers.

Osgood dropped into one of the seats and scanned the huge array of buttons and switches. “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe?” she looked nervously at Kate.

“That symbol there, we saw that this morning when the transmission first came in” Kate pointed to a button, slightly larger than the rest. Glancing out of the window she saw the soldiers advancing towards the remaining UNIT troops and made an executive decision. “We don’t have time for subtlety” she apologised to Osgood and slapped her hand over the button, holding her breath.

“Good guess” Osgood smiled as the lights all came on. “From what we’ve figured out so far, these all seem to be navigational symbols and I think these are weapons and shields” she scrunched her nose, resettling her glasses and squinting at some of the smaller buttons.

“Pick one” Kate grabbed hold of the joystick to the left of her seat and pulled back, feeling the action translate into the lurching of the vessel they were sitting in.

“Point it that way” Osgood vaguely gestured to the other end of the hangar, where the opposing forces were setting up a heavy machine gun. “Fingers crossed” she closed her eyes as she pressed down on two of the buttons simultaneously. 

The vessel lurched as the single energy pulse caused the machine gun to explode, which not only took out the soldiers who’d had them pinned down but most of the end wall of the hangar. “I think just one round will do,” Kate said quietly, returning the joystick to its original position and feeling the corresponding bump of the vessel landing on the hangar floor. “Excellent work Osgood” she stretched her neck and leaned forward in her seat to see the Colonel and his men racing out of the hangar to round up any stragglers. Not hearing a response from the younger scientist she turned to her. “Are you alright?” she asked quietly.

“Fine ma’am” Osgood sniffled, using her shirt sleeve to wipe the tears from her eyes. “Sorry ma’am”

“No need to apologise, it’s been a bit of a trying day all round” she turned to get out of her seat and didn’t see the large refueling tanker heading straight for the vessel. “Once we’ve secured the scene we can have a cuppa” she tried to reassure the brunette.

“Look out!” Osgood caught the movement from outside in her peripheral vision as the tanker blasted through the line of storage boxes they had used for cover and headed for the vessel. She reacted instinctively, slapping her hand against the buttons she was reasonably sure were for shields.

“Os!” Kate shouted, reaching for her gun out of instinct despite being inside the vessel.

The blinding blue flash of light threw them both to the floor and the last thing Kate remembered seeing was Osgood’s glasses landing beside her. The blackness of unconsciousness was a relief.


	2. Chapter 2

Osgood could see flashing lights in front of her eyes and tried to move her hand to push them away. The sudden pain from her wrist brought clarity through the fog of returning consciousness and she groaned. What?” she croaked and tried to remember what had led to her blackout. Realising that the fuzziness was caused more by the lack of glasses than any injury she reached out with her left hand and patted the floor until she found them. “Kate!” she remembered the explosion and pushed herself up with her other hand, squinting around the dark interior of the ship. “Dr. Stewart?” she managed to settle herself against a bulkhead. The surrounding corridor and doorways seemed to be intact and her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness enough for her to see Kate lying face down about ten feet away. Gritting her teeth she managed to stand, cradling what she suspected was a broken wrist. 

“Os?” Kate was fighting to climb out of her unconsciousness.

“Stay still” Osgood finally settled against a closed door near Kate. “Are you alright, did you get hurt?”

“A few more bruises to add to the collection and a bit of a headache” Kate gingerly stretched out arms and legs, fingers and toes. “Neck feels a bit stiff too” she reached behind her head and tried to massage out some of the tight knots she found. “Are you OK, what happened?”

Osgood swallowed again, she was fighting nausea and really didn’t want to throw up in front of her boss. “I saw the truck coming straight for us, it was a fuel tanker so I hit the nearest button that looked like it was for a force field of some kind” she gasped as a slight movement caused sharp pain in her wrist.

“You’re hurt” Kate finally noticed how the brunette was cradling her arm “Let me see” she shuffled closer until she was sitting beside Osgood. “Osgood, let me take a look” she reiterated when Osgood hadn’t moved. 

“It’s broken” Osgood swallowed again and then realised, in a moment of horror, that she was about to throw up. “Oh no,” she managed before turning to her side and losing her breakfast.

Kate was, fortunately, sitting by her other side and she rubbed the young woman’s back and held her shoulders until she had finished. “Did you hit your head?” she asked practically, handing over a handkerchief from her trouser pocket.

“I don’t think so” Osgood felt a little better and sat up straighter. “I haven’t done that in years, felt like the worst travel sickness I’ve ever had”

“Let’s get you up and into a chair and I can take a look at your wrist” Kate carefully helped the young woman stand and led them both back to the chairs they’d occupied earlier. “This might hurt a bit” she warned before trying to move Osgood’s wrist. Osgood had never felt pain like it and welcomed the tunneling of her vision that dropped her into unconsciousness again. “Good girl” Kate managed to reposition the wrist, making it a little straighter, before looking around the cabin, popping open cupboards and doors to see what she could find. “Ah hah!” she smiled as she found what looked like a medical kit.

Osgood came round after several minutes and was relieved to be in considerably less pain. This changed as soon as she moved her arm and Kate was at her side. “Sorry ma’am” she started to apologise.

“Nonsense, it’s a bad break but I think I managed to reduce it as well as I could and the splints should help reduce further damage” Kate gently lifted Osgood’s wrist for her to see the two plastic boards which were bandaged under and over her wrist. “If you keep it in the sling it shouldn’t hurt too badly” she lifted the ends of her own scarf, sliding the injured arm inside it before finishing tying it at the back of Osgood’s neck.

“Thank you, that does feel better” Osgood smiled shyly at her.

“So, let’s see what damage we sustained when that truck hit us, I can’t find the button to lower the external shield” Kate waved at the window in front of them that currently had a metal protection covering it.

Osgood twisted a little and found the partner of the button she’d hit earlier. “This should lower the shields” they both turned to see what damage the truck had caused to the remaining hangar building.

Several seconds of stunned silence was all that they could manage as the metal shield slid down to reveal more stars than either had ever seen in their lives. At the bottom of the viewscreen was the curve of the Earth, the different layers of the atmosphere delineated. “Osgood?” Kate had grabbed the arms of her chair, only noticing when she felt a cramp starting in her right hand.

“Well that explains the travel sickness” the brunette stared in awe.

“I thought this had crashed in the Brazilian jungle decades ago?” Kate sat forward, looking down at the Earth to watch the dateline pass underneath them and sunrise run across the sea.

“Perhaps it didn’t crash as badly as we thought” Osgood suggested.

“We’re not going to show up on the Space Station monitors, are we?” Kate suddenly worried about the chances of keeping that UFO sighting quiet.

“Our filters should be operating as normal, Pharos II will see us if we get close” Osgood stood and carefully tilted her head. “I think we’re on a polar orbit” she pointed to a landmass underneath them. “Argentina?” she suggested.

“Could be” Kate had also tilted her head and was chewing her lip as she tried to remember the geography of the southern hemisphere. “It looks a bit different on Google Earth” she grinned and turned to see Osgood smiling at her. “How do we let UNIT know where we are?”

“That’s definitely Brazil, I studied the aerial photographs of the crash site when the first reports came in” Osgood nodded before slipping her hand into her pocket. “I’m not sure whether this survived, can you try switching it on?”

Kate took the handheld gizmo and switched it on, waiting for the lights to come on in the correct order. “Looks to be OK, how do I get London?”

“We may need to wait a few minutes, till we’re closer” Osgood was trying to calculate how quickly they were circling the globe. 

“Perhaps there’s a communication device on here somewhere?” the blonde turned to the cockpit again. “Although I’m not overly keen on just pushing buttons” she admitted.

“Have you got your phone with you?” Osgood asked.

“I doubt we’ll get a phone signal up here” Kate suggested, holding her phone up and squinting at the screen. She looked back up as Osgood sighed, holding the phone out to her sheepishly.

Osgood went to take the phone, wincing when she subconsciously moved her right arm. “Sorry, can you open up the universal translator app?”

“OK, that’s the orange fish thing?” Kate squinted at the phone again before patting down her pockets to find her glasses. “Right, that’s better” putting her glasses on, she got the app running and showed the screen to Osgood.

“Choose the camera symbol and take photographs of all of the buttons” Osgood directed, standing to let Kate get close enough to the buttons on her side of the console. 

“Like that?” Kate asked, showing the brunette the photographs she’d managed to take. Interpreting Osgood’s sigh as frustration, she held the phone in front of the woman’s left hand “Can you do what you need if I hold it?” she asked and winked on the nod and smile.

Osgood swiped through several photos before coming across the one of the button she’d assumed meant raising a protective shield. “If I double-click on this one” she mumbled to herself. 

Kate couldn’t help the grin as she watched Osgood poke her tongue out of the side of her mouth, it was adorable. “Does that help?” she asked quietly, nodding at her lips when Osgood stared up at her. She hadn’t realised how close she was until she watched the blush run from under the brunette’s shirt collar to reach her ears. She cleared her throat and took a step back, letting Osgood take her phone from her.

“Ah” Osgood shifted her shoulders to settle the makeshift sling more comfortably “That’s….unfortunate” 

“Osgood,” Kate said patiently, surprising herself.

“Sorry ma’am” the brunette finally looked up and juggled the phone while trying to push her glasses up her nose. “It seems that “protective shield” was a bit of a mistranslation”

“You surprise me” Kate replied in her driest tone.

“Yes, sorry, I think it meant that the vessel would take measures to protect itself” Osgood put the phone down on the console and reached into her trouser pocket. “Which in this case seems to have meant it ‘removed’ itself from the danger”

Kate pinched the bridge of her nose, her glasses held loosely in her hand. “So it went straight up” She looked at Osgood when she didn’t get an answer and saw her trying to reach her left hand into her right-hand trouser pocket. “Inhaler?” she asked quietly and on the nod of confirmation she stepped around behind the brunette and put her hand on her shoulder. “I’m going to reach into your pocket for it” she kept her movements slow but not hesitant, not wanting to delay the delivery of the drugs any longer than necessary.

Osgood gratefully received the inhaler and flipped off the cover before taking a hit. “Sorry ma’am,” she said quietly a minute later. “I think you can try the comms device now” she suggested and moved away from her boss, settling on the chair she’d previously occupied.

“Greyhound 1 to Greyhound 3” Kate listened for any response. “Greyhound 1 to UNIT, anyone receiving?” she tried for several minutes.

Osgood sat a little straighter, glancing out the window. “We’re over the North Pole now,” she said quietly. “No ground stations nearby, we should try again when we get closer to Japan”

Kate sat down as well, the long day and exertion finally catching up with her. “No chance of flying home I suppose?” she ran her hand through her hair, before sticking her hand in her pocket. She found the packet of chewing gum and handed a piece to the brunette.

“Depends how high we are,” Osgood said quietly, lips moving as she tried to calculate in her head. “I think we jumped about 50 miles from the surface” she rubbed her eyes before settling her glasses again. “Best guess, it’s difficult to judge speed”. She unwrapped the stick of chewing gum and popped it in her mouth, it wasn’t a breath mint but at least it would help with the taste in her mouth.

“I’d take your best guess any day,” Kate said confidently, knowing that they both needed to be on top form to get out of this predicament. “So we’re in the mesosphere?” she confirmed.

“Which means we’ll be heading back down fairly soon without us having to do anything” Osgood glanced at Kate’s phone as it pinged a notification. “Let’s see if that worked” she muttered again and leaned over to read a screen near the centre of the console. “According to the translator, we’re not expending any energy”

“So we’re hanging about, literally, until gravity notices us?” Kate confirmed that she was understanding what Osgood was saying. “And when that happens, I’m guessing we don’t glide gracefully to a gentle landing at RAF Northolt?”

“Well no,” Osgood acknowledged the sarcasm. “If the re-entry is too steep we burn up, if it’s too shallow we bounce around off the atmosphere for a while then we burn up”

“I’ve always hated Tuesdays” Kate sat back, stretching her legs out and turning her head from side to side to try to loosen off her sore muscles. “What are our options?” she crossed her legs and waited for Osgood to come up with a brilliant plan.

The younger woman looked confused. “Even if we can figure out what each of these controls actually, well, control….” she gestured to Kate’s phone which was occasionally pinging out that it had translated another phrase or word. “I don’t think we have enough time to learn how to fly an alien spacecraft before we….” she trailed off.

“Burn up, yes I know, you said” Kate wasn’t snippy, yet. “Our choices are to sit and wait to die or figure out how to fall with style?”

Osgood smiled at the quote, surprised that Kate was familiar with it. “We could try to adjust the angle of re-entry” she admitted. “But that just gets us coming through the atmosphere with no controls or knowing where we’ll land”

“But you didn’t say ‘burn up’ that time so we made progress” Kate clapped her hands together and sat up straight. “We’re two smart women, we can figure this out”

“We’re closer to Japan now, you should try the comms again” Osgood suggested. She felt slightly more confident after Kate’s enthusiasm, or rather slightly less than 100% sure they were about to die.

Kate tried to reach anyone who was monitoring their frequency, repeating their situation several times before giving up again. “Does this thing have an escape module?” she looked around. “I poked about in cupboards earlier when I found the medical kit, but I didn’t find any parachutes or anything” she tried a weak joke.

“This might be an escape module” Osgood theorised, shifting in her seat and groaning as her arm started to ache again. “Sorry ma’am” she managed through gritted teeth.

“Stop apologising” Kate looked concerned. “It’s a bad break, you’re going to be in a cast for a few weeks when we get back”

“You can be the first to sign it” Osgood let out a slow breath as the pain settled down again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have probably already realised that I not an astrophysicist either!


	3. Chapter 3

“What do you mean you can’t find them?” the colonel was on the verge of shouting, again.

“Sir, radar stations are all on the lookout but they’re not picking anything up” the sergeant snapped to attention and saluted before returning to the command vehicle.

“Carter!” Shindi shouted above the general noise. The hangar had partially collapsed after Kate and Osgood had blown up the machine gun and most of the roof had disappeared by the time they managed to put out the fire from the crashing tanker.

“Sir” Carter arrived at the colonel’s side. “They definitely weren’t still around when the tanker exploded” he pointed to a pile of twisted metal wreckage. “That’s the roof and pieces of the tanker”

“You’re sure?” Shindi had been trying not to get his hopes up, he’d been running towards the hangar when the explosion had happened and had been sure that his two friends were dead.

“Yes, sir, and something else” Carter lifted one of the roof spars, easily holding the weight to point at the end. “This was sheared through cleanly, not as part of the explosion”

Both of them looked up at the gaping hole. “You think the ship went through the roof just before the explosion?” Shindi was trying to gauge the relative size of the hole compared to the vessel.

“I think so, and if it did then maybe radar isn’t going to pick it up” Carter dropped the roof spar and wiped his hands together to clear some of the smoke and dust. “Osgood didn’t get a chance to confirm the propulsion systems before our friends arrived” he waved at the small band of soldiers who were handcuffed and sitting in a corner under guard. “But it may have been powerful enough to take them quite a distance”

“Good work Carter” Shindi headed towards the command vehicle. “Get me the Tower” he strode towards the centre table and stared at the maps strewn around. He waited until the voice confirmed that the Tower was patched through, “We need AWACs in the air, how quickly can we get them?”

“They’re under NATO command sir,” the disembodied voice said.

“Fine, get me Geneva and tell Osgood’s team we think they went upwards from the site” Shindi turned as the door opened. “Carter, have a word with the prisoners while I wait for Geneva”

“Yes sir” Carter replied with relish, he would enjoy persuading the small band of soldiers that it was in their best interest to talk.

*****************************

“So we need AWACs, General” Shindi explained their theory. “As far as we know, neither Dr. Stewart nor Osgood are pilots so we have to assume that the vessel was on some kind of autopilot”

“Or we’d have found the wreckage by now” the General agreed with the idea, in principle. “I’ll ask NATO for their assistance, and we’re sending over some of the scientific team who helped to excavate the vessel in Brazil” 

“Thank you, sir” the channel was closed and Shindi rubbed his hand over his face, the last thing he needed was scientists onsite without either Kate or Osgood to translate for him. Still, any help was appreciated if it got their people back safely. “Right, get ready to move the main force back to the Tower, we’ll leave a cleanup squad and perimeter patrols here for now” he waited for the chorus of agreement and went to find out what Carter was up to.

“Ah sir, you’ve arrived just in time” Carter looked confident but Shindi had known him long enough to see it was a front, he was just as worried about their friends as everyone else. “This chap here was about to tell us who paid them to stage the raid”

“I told you, I don’t know his name” the soldier had been pulled to the front of the group and was flanked by two of UNIT’s larger troops.

“Fair enough, just make sure you hide the bodies better this time,” Shindi said in a bored tone of voice, turning back towards the trucks getting ready to leave. 

The prisoner looked surprised and then worried and then frightened as Carter played his part “Give me five more minutes sir, I really think they’ll talk” he managed to look worried.

“We don’t have five minutes Captain, we have to find our people and these prisoners clearly don’t know anything of use” Shindi had turned back towards Carter and was able to see the other prisoners shifting uneasily on the floor. “If you don’t want to take care of it yourself, take them back and feed them to prisoner 4” he raised an eyebrow, using his years of military training not to smile.

“Not prisoner 4, sir, please” Carter pleaded, he had clearly missed his calling, he’d have been perfect on the West End stage if he ever left UNIT.

“I didn’t sign up for this” the prisoner protested, looking a lot paler than he had minutes before. “You can’t kill us, we’re captives and you’re Army”

“We’re not Army, we’re UNIT and unless you start talking you’re not captives, you’re missing in action and lunch” Shindi groundout, the genuine anger he now felt causing the prisoner to take a step back.

Carter would later admit that he had been enjoying the ruse right up to the point where he couldn’t be sure whether the Colonel would actually use violence against the prisoners. He’d never ask and was glad that the prisoners had all decided that they had a story to tell, negating the possibility that he’d ever find out just how far Shindi would go to find their friends.


	4. Chapter 4

Kate stared out at the Earth revolving underneath them, clouds and shadows rolling past and land masses becoming more recognisable now that her brain had figured out which way was notionally ‘up’. “I always thought I’d see space from the Tardis,” she said wistfully.

“There wasn’t really time for this kind of sight-seeing when Sam and I went to the space station” Osgood smiled at the memory, or what remained of it. “It is quite humbling though, don’t you think ma’am?” 

“It is, and I think you can call me Kate” the blonde smiled at the younger woman and was about to say more when her phone pinged again. “Damn thing reminds me of the microwave, which reminds me we haven’t eaten in ages”

“I’m not sure I could actually eat anything, still feeling a little wobbly” Osgood admitted as she struggled to access the details she needed from the phone with her left hand. “Oh that’s interesting” she waited for Kate to move to stand behind her, peering over her shoulder at the small screen. “That sequence of buttons over there,” she nodded her head towards the middle of the control panel “could be controlling maneuvering thrusters” 

Kate frowned “So we could control re-entry?” 

“Well yes, in theory” Osgood sighed and put the phone down. “Assuming that the translation matrix is correct for this language, and that it’s worked, and that the aliens who built this thing actually had a concept for thrusters”

Kate considered what she’d heard. “How long before the decision is taken out of our hands?”

“I don’t know” Osgood was annoyed at how imprecise she was being. “That screen seems to be showing us telemetry but it won’t translate and I can’t figure out what it’s telling us”

“Hey, it’s OK” Kate reassured her, leaning back against the control console to face the brunette. “I know I sometimes put pressure on you to always have the answers” she crossed her arms, frowning. “I’m sorry”

“It’s my job” Osgood hadn’t realised how close they had been standing until Kate moved to face her, her eye-line was now aligned with the blonde’s chest and she determinedly stared up at her face. “And it’s my fault we’re stuck up here”

Kate watched Osgood as she looked up at her, reminded of how often she’d spent time in their labs ostensibly observing experiments and trials but actually observing her senior scientific adviser. Swallowing nervously she wondered if she’d ever have the courage to admit how she felt. “If you hadn’t got us out of there we’d probably have been incinerated” Kate reasoned with her. “And I’d rather be stuck on an alien spacecraft in a degrading low earth orbit with you than anyone else”

“You won’t be saying that if I can’t figure out how to stop us burning up” the brunette huffed, trying to hide how much what Kate said meant to her.

“If we can just stop using the words ‘burning up’, that might help” Kate sighed and went to her coat. Taking off her shoulder holster she put it and her gun on the floor before pulling a notebook and pen from one pocket of her coat. “So what equation do we start with?”

******************************

An hour after they first started to calculate their orbit they were settling themselves into the pilot seats again, on the opposite sides this time. “Health and Safety would have a fit if they knew we were trying this without seatbelts” Kate winked and finished chewing another stick of gum. Taking it out of her mouth she messily separated it into two small globs and used them to stick torn pieces of the notebook above the remaining buttons they planned to use. “Everything in the right place?” she checked and watched with a smile as Osgood peered at each piece of paper, double checking that it was positioned in the correct place.

“One more try on the comms?” Osgood swallowed nervously.

Kate lifted the comms device and repeated her request for a response for several minutes. “I think we need to get ourselves out of this” she nodded at the younger woman, faking a confidence she didn’t entirely feel.

“OK” Osgood replied, licking her dry lips. “ On your mark” she grabbed a hold of the joystick on her left-hand side and settled her shoulders once to make the sling more comfortable.

“3, 2, 1” Kate counted down, pressing two buttons with her left hand at the same time. The ship shuddered a little and she kept her eyes on the dial in front of her, lifting her hand when the dial reached half way.

Osgood had gently moved the joystick forward and to the right, a little, holding her breath as the Earth took up a larger slice of the viewscreen. She watched a small screen near her hand, waiting for it to reach the correct angle for re-entry before letting go of the joystick and sitting back, gulping in a large breath. “There’s nothing else we can do for now” she swallowed.

“I’ll miss this blue dot if we don’t make it” Kate’s voice cracked a little, the beauty of the Earth beneath them combining with the danger they were in to make her throat tight.

“I’ll miss hot buttered toast” Osgood mumbled and looked up in surprise as Kate barked out a laugh. “What, I will, it’s my favourite comfort food” Osgood protested, pretending indignance when all she really wanted to do was make Kate laugh again.

Kate sat back and crossed her legs, wiping tears from her eyes. “Pot noodles” she admitted and grinned as Osgood stared at her. “It’s a guilty pleasure and even I can’t mess up adding hot water to dehydrated noodles and veggies”

“You can’t cook?” Osgood turned in her seat, carefully lifting her right arm with her left to rest it on the arm of the chair. 

“I could, in theory” Kate shrugged “I mean, it’s just following instructions and not setting fire to the room but I never really enjoyed it….or chemistry for that matter”

Osgood was about to ask about how she’d managed to become head of scientific research when she didn’t like chemistry but she was interrupted by an alarm sounding from the centre of the console. “Kate, run the audio app on your phone” she ordered, as her eyes flicked over every dial and button she could see to find the one that was causing the issue.

Kate held her phone in front of her, watching the screen as it recorded the alarm. She was surprised to see text forming at the bottom of the screen “Low oxygen levels” she shouted over the noise.

Osgood frowned in concentration, closing her eyes briefly before opening them and stabbing her index finger onto a button at the top of the console. The alarm immediately stopped but her ears were ringing for several seconds. “What does the display screen say now?” she asked.

Kate changed the setting on her phone, switching it back to video mode before holding it over the display. “Oxygen levels at 50% and dropping” she looked across at the brunette. “Is there hull damage?”

Osgood pushed her glasses up into her hair and ran her hand across her face. “How would I know?” she asked sharply, the pain in her wrist making her forget who she was talking to. “Sorry, ma’am” she mumbled as she settled her glasses again.

“Osgood please, we’re either about to burn up or suffocate, call me Kate!” the blonde was getting annoyed now, she wanted to be back in her draughty office with Osgood along the corridor in her lab. “One of these bloody dials must show us what’s happening” she scrolled through the photos of the buttons, with the translations below them. “Wait, how did you know that god-awful racket wasn’t just a klaxon?”

Osgood looked confused “It wasn’t a klaxon, it was a voice recording of some kind”

“No it wasn’t, it sounded like the fire alarm at the Tower” Kate insisted and then stopped, staring at Osgood as they both tried to work out what had just happened. “Telepathic?” she asked.

“Couldn’t be” Osgood shook her head. “Maybe the two pilots get different alerts, either way, the translation app wouldn’t have translated a telepathic message”  
“Of course not” Kate looked embarrassed. “There’s nothing here to tell us how we’d find out about a hull breach” she held the phone out to Osgood.

“Maybe we vented oxygen when we fired the thrusters?” Osgood shook her head, she didn’t need to see the phone to know that Kate was correct. “What’s the level now?” she waited for Kate to position the phone over the display again.

“45%” Kate looked around the cabin. “How much air in here?”

“Not enough” Osgood sighed. “There’s nothing else we can do until we’re through the atmosphere, let’s see what else we have on board” she stood slowly and they both started opening panels and drawers, at least it would keep them occupied and not thinking about the fact that they were suffocating slowly.


	5. Chapter 5

The scientists were standing around a whiteboard, arguing in several languages as calculations were added and then wiped out again. “How does Kate manage them?” Carter asked Shindi as they stood at the back of the room. “When she’s here they don’t all talk over each other and argue about who holds the marker pens”

“It's her superpower I suppose” the Colonel shrugged.

“Scientist whispering” Josh suggested and smirked as Shindi coughed to hide his laughter.

McGillop walked into the room, looking around for the two soldiers. “I think I may have found something,” he said quietly and nodded over his shoulder. They followed him into Osgood’s office. “There was an anomaly on one of the filters we have set on the International Space Station’s monitoring devices” he held out a sheaf of papers but they both looked at him and he realised they had no intention of trying to figure out what the figures and diagrams meant. “Right, sorry” he mumbled and dropped the papers onto the desk. “About forty minutes ago the filters scrubbed out a signal from a moving object between the Station and Earth”

“It wasn’t another satellite or meteorite?” Carter asked.

“Meteor” McGillop corrected without thinking. “And no, it was definitely powered flight and there aren’t any satellites in the mesosphere”

“So can we track it?” Shindi didn’t really care about what it wasn’t, he wanted to know where it was now.

“Maybe, but well…” he looked nervous and rubbed the back of his neck. “The chief scientist from Geneva has us working on something else, I shouldn’t really be…”

“Leave that to me,” Shindi said, glad that he finally had something to do. “Carter, with me, McGillop do whatever you need to, just find that ship” he headed back to the group of scientists and waited for a gap in the arguing. “Jean, if I could have a moment please?” 

********************************

“He took that well, considering” Carter walked beside Shindi down a stone-lined corridor.

“Didn’t give him much choice” Shindi admitted, walking towards his desk and scanning through the reports lying on top of the pile of paperwork. “Dr. Stewart can soothe his ruffled feathers when she gets back” his smile wavered a little.

“We’ll get them back sir” Carter assured him.

“We’d better, can you imagine that lot arguing every time we have an invasion?” Shindi waved his arm back towards the lab they’d just left. “They’d still be deciding what to call the project as the Daleks rolled down the corridors”

“Just makes Kate and Osgood even more impressive” Carter nodded in agreement.

“Did we get any more out of the prisoners?” Shindi changed the subject. 

“We’re collating the statements now, could be the same people who tried to sabotage the dig in Brazil who's behind the attack this morning” Carter’s radio crackled to life and he listened on his earpiece. “Sounds like the team have managed to salvage some data from one of the prisoner’s phones”

“Good work, let me know when we need to move on a target” Shindi replied and Carter took this as a dismissal. When he was alone in his office Shindi sat back, running his hands through his hair. “Come on Kate, where the hell are you?” he asked quietly and sent a prayer that they were both alright. Smiling to himself he imagined Kate’s indignant snort when he told her he’d prayed for her safe return.


	6. Chapter 6

“35%” Kate scanned the other readings on the display, hoping that something had changed to give them a chance.

“We’re not going to make it,” Osgood said quietly, staring straight ahead at the globe turning underneath them. “I’m sorry Kate, but we’ll lose consciousness before we breach the atmosphere”

“Not your fault” Kate rested her head on the seat and turned to watch the young woman. “I’m sorry you won’t make it back”

“Not your fault either” Osgood turned to shrug one shoulder. “I think I was living on borrowed time anyway”

“It’s been a rough few years” Kate acknowledged. “But somehow I always imagined it would be an alien who finished me off, not a badly driven tanker truck” she sighed.

“I always imagined you frightening government ministers when you were a grey haired old lady” Osgood grinned at the image.

“I am a grey haired old lady, this is out of a bottle” Kate ran some of her hair through her fingers. Osgood laughed before she started coughing. Kate stood up and shook her inhaler for her. Waiting for her to open her eyes again after several steady breaths, “Better?” she was concerned.

Osgood nodded and immediately missed the proximity of Kate standing beside her. She watched as the blonde shrugged out of her jacket, leaving her in just the grey t-shirt. “Could you….?” she gestured at the sling and awkwardly tried to remove her arm.

“Wait” Kate supported her arm and lifted the sling over her head. “I don’t think we can take the sweater off without hurting you” she pointed to the splints on her wrist.

“I know but the temperature is rising and a bit of pain seems kind of irrelevant when we’re going to die anyway,” Osgood said quietly and watched Kate swallow. 

“Right, let’s get you out of the sweater then” Kate helped her slide her left arm out of the sleeve and lifted it over her head, handing Osgood the dislodged glasses when she was done. “Tie off too?” she smiled and pulled the bow tie, leaving the ends hanging under the shirt collar.

“Thanks” Osgood undid two of her shirt buttons and pulled the collar away from her neck. “I wish bow ties were actually cool” she quipped and watched as Kate smiled half-heartedly. 

“30%” Kate read out and banged her hand against the edge of the console. “Bloody hell” she swore and took a couple of seconds to gather herself. “There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a while and I know this is the worst possible time to say it but it seems there isn’t much more time left” she had turned to face Osgood, crossing her arms.

“Kate?” Osgood could feel her chest tightening and wasn’t sure if it was the depleted oxygen or the sight of her boss looking determined and a bit frazzled.

“It’s just…...I’ve always…..” Kate swallowed, why was this so hard?

“It’s alright” Osgood had no idea what she was trying to say. “Just tell me”

Kate stared at her for several seconds, obviously having some kind of internal dialogue. “I love you” she finally managed to get out and her shoulders dropped some of the tension she’d been carrying. “I’m sorry, I know you don’t want to hear this but I can’t die without telling you” Osgood’s eyebrows were as high as she’d ever seen them and her mouth was opening and closing without any sounds coming out. “Anyway, it’s done now so we can carry on as normal”

“Normal?” Osgood finally found her voice. “In the normal world you don’t love me, and I hide my feelings for you while we try not to blow up a national monument again” she stood up, cradling her wrist and the sweater dropped from her lap. She cursed under her breath and carefully pulled the sleeve over the splints, feeling faint from the pain but determined not to pass out in the time remaining for them.

“Let me help” Kate moved towards her again but stopped in her tracks when Osgood glared at her. Holding up her hands she took a step back. “What feelings?” she finally worked through what the younger woman had said.

“What do you think” Osgood was angry, they were finally having the talk that she’d imagined for years and it was only because of their imminent demise. “I’ve loved you for years, how could I not, you’re brilliant and funny and well…..” Osgood gave up using words and looked Kate up and down.

“You’re brilliant and funny and..” Kate gestured to Osgood’s body.

“Don’t forget the swagger” Osgood ignored what Kate was saying, she was on a roll. “You have so much confidence sometimes, it should be illegal”

“Shut up,” Kate said softly as she moved to stand in front of the brunette, glancing down at the open collar of her shirt before looking back up and licking her lips. She leaned forward slowly, giving the younger woman every opportunity to stop what was about to happen. 

When their lips finally met she felt Kate sigh against her. “Kate” she whispered and reached for her waist. “Shit” she cradled her wrist, tears in her eyes at the pain slamming through her arm from the sudden movement.

“Sit down” Kate gently guided her to the seat behind her. “I’m sorry I was such a coward” she knelt at the side of the seat “I’ve wasted so much time”

“You’ve never been a coward, you’re the bravest person I know” Osgood didn’t bother wiping away the tears now rolling down her cheeks, not caring if they were caused by the pain or their situation. “There just never seemed like a right time to tell you either”

“When we get out of this we’re going to have dinner at that lovely little Italian place” Kate stroked her thumbs across the brunette’s cheeks, gathering the tears. “And we’re each having our own desserts because I have a feeling you’d hog the big half of the shared tiramisu” she swallowed down the lump in her throat.

“It’s true” Osgood laughed and sobbed at the same time. “But I’d rather you ate the whole thing and I got to taste it later when I kissed you on your doorstep”

“Oh no, no more prevaricating” Kate insisted. “We’ll be kissing on my sofa before 10”

“Oh, still taking charge?” Osgood smiled weakly, lifting her left hand to slide her fingers through Kate’s hair, ending with her hand resting on her shoulder. “Not that I’m complaining, I’ve imagined kissing you a lot”

Kate leaned forward again, kissing her softly before moving up to kiss the tears from her cheeks. “I think growing old with you would have been rather marvelous” she whispered and returned to kissing the younger woman.

Osgood kissed her back, deepening it and carefully leaning forward to allow her left hand to slide into Kate’s hair again, holding the back of her head. “So beautiful” she sighed, which was a mistake. Her chest started to tighten again and this time it was a familiar feeling. “No” she whispered but pulled back from the blonde and reached for her inhaler.

Kate sat back, breathing heavily herself and trying to diagnose whether it was the low oxygen levels or the stunning woman in front of her that caused it. She watched Osgood take a measured dose and waited for her breathing to settle down. “Let’s sit on the floor, I’d like to hold you in my arms” she suggested and waited for the small nod. She moved to the wall behind them and bundled up her coat and jacket to try to make it a little more comfortable. Grabbing the comms device from the console she returned to help Osgood settle before sitting down on the younger woman’s left-hand side. Gently she rested her right arm around Osgood’s shoulders.

“It really is a beautiful planet, isn’t it?” Osgood sighed, watching the African coast through the viewscreen as it circled beneath them. “Although I may be biased” she smiled and rested her head against the crook of Kate’s shoulder.

“Give it five more minutes and we’ll be able to see our houses from here” Kate joked and kissed the top of the brunette’s head. 

Osgood reached for Kate’s hand, holding on tightly with her left hand. “Our second date would have been a picnic” she whispered, trying to control her breathing but knowing that she’d be affected by the low oxygen levels more quickly than Kate. “I’ve always imagined snogging you on a tartan rug after some M&S sandwiches”

“I had no idea you were such an exhibitionist” Kate pulled her more tightly against her. “Can you imagine Vikram’s face if he had to bail us out of the local nick?” she waited for a response but instead felt the brunette’s body slump against her. “I’m so sorry my love” she whispered and watched Northern Europe disappear from her view. “Greyhound 1 to anyone who’s listening…….we nearly made it”


	7. Chapter 7

The entire room stared at the satellite feed from one of their ships in the Tasman Sea. “One minute we were seeing what looked like a big satellite burning up on re-entry and then it just disappeared” the naval officer looked confused. “Does that sound like yours?”

“So there wasn’t an explosion or any debris?” Jean asked, hearing various scientists behind him trying to gather data from the southern hemisphere UNIT tracking stations.

“No sir, one minute it was there then it just wasn’t” he confirmed. “We’ve seen re-entry events before but nothing like this” he nodded to someone off-screen. “We’ll keep looking and report back anything we find” he leaned forward and the picture disappeared.

“So what does that mean?” Shindi couldn’t cope with the silence. “Are they safe or not?”

“We do not know” the chief scientist shrugged. “If it was the craft they were in then it looks like it was trying to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere”

“It was them,” McGillop said and then looked surprised that he’d interrupted someone who was, in theory, his boss. “Sorry, but the telemetry almost works out” he explained.

“Almost?” Shindi really did find the scientist’s need for certainty before making a declaration infuriating at the best of times and this was clearly not the best of times.

“If we model where they would have arrived if they’d gone straight up from the warehouse” McGillop shoved his hands in his lab coat pockets. “And then factor in that Osgood would have known she’d need to adjust the trajectory a little to ensure they didn’t burn up coming back down” he swallowed, there were a lot of assumptions going into this. “Then they’d have dropped through the mesosphere and hit the stratosphere pretty much where this was reported”

“Which is all well and good, but I’m sure you’d expect them to keep dropping down towards Earth?” Shindi pointed out the flaw in McGillop’s theory.

“She must have figured out how to make the jump again, just like they did when they took off, to begin with,” McGillop sounded rather more hopeful than even he was comfortable with.

“Let’s keep gathering data, we’ll have a better idea what happened in half an hour” Jean saved him from the pragmatic soldier who only wanted definitive answers.

“Fine, we’ll keep monitoring the comms” Shindi growled and headed back to the Operations Room. “Someone had better have some good news for me,” he said as soon as he entered.

“Define good” Carter asked automatically before remembering who he was speaking to. “Sorry sir, I mean there’s a chance we may have been able to count on some medical help”

“In English Carter” the colonel wasn’t in the mood for riddles.

“Tardis monitoring system picked up a near-Earth ping seconds before the craft disappeared from the scanners” Carter was scanning through several pages laid out on a desk. “Just here, see?” he pointed to an alarm notification logged at the correct time.

“The Doctor has them?” Shindi could feel a tiny flame of hope return, he was going to have a large whisky or six if they all got out of this in one piece. “So why aren’t they back here already?”

“I’ve just sent someone down to the Black Archive, we should be able to get a message through to him on the Space-Time Telegraph” Josh confirmed and felt a tiny piece of confidence returning. “We’ll get them back,” he said quietly.

“Maybe, let’s have a wide spectrum sweep on all comms, he can’t land here so god knows where he’ll take them” Shindi sat behind another desk, preparing to send a progress report to Geneva. “Oh and find out what McGillop’s favourite drink is, we owe him a crate of something”

“Sir” Josh smiled.

******************************************

“What the….?” Kate woke up and suddenly remembered that she hadn’t expected to ever wake up again. Bright lights shone in her eyes and she turned onto her side, promptly falling off of the sofa she’d been lying on. “Not dead then” she groaned, surmising that she’d probably not feel this bruised and beaten up if she were. “Os!” 

“Kate?” Osgood walked into the room before rushing over to help her up. “Are you OK?” 

“I feel not dead, surprisingly” Kate summarised her day so far. “What happened and why isn’t your wrist broken?”

“An old friend popped by in the nick of time” Osgood smiled gently and helped Kate sit down on the chair behind her. “We’re on the Tardis”

“The Doctor?” Kate ran her hands through her hair, resting her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands.

“Did someone call my name?” the Doctor popped a head around the door before coming to stand next to Osgood. “Is she always this grumpy when she wakes up?” Osgood blushed at the question.

“Doctor?” Kate shook her head in the hope that some of her marbles would end up back where they’d started. “Another regeneration?” 

“Obvs” the blonde did a quick twirl before nudging Osgood “You’d think she’d be better at noticing a pretty woman”

“I’m sorry I told you” Osgood groaned, blushing even harder. “Don’t be mean”

“Sorry Yes,” the Doctor said sheepishly and looked up as her shoulder was nudged none too gently to see Osgood pointedly looking between her and Kate. “Oh and sorry Katie,” she said.

“Are you OK?” Kate asked Osgood, trying to prioritise from the four million questions she currently had running around in her head.

“Yep, Tardis fixed up my wrist and we managed to synthesise some more inhalers” Osgood sat down next to the blonde. “Are you OK?” she asked gently, pushing hair away from Kate’s face and gently stroking her cheek. 

“If we’re alive then I’m fine” Kate started to smile. “Better than fine really, with everything” she hoped that Osgood would understand what she meant.

“Me too” Osgood leaned in to drop a quick kiss on her lips, moving away before it became anything more. 

“So we can go home?” Kate stood as well, looking around. “How long have we been here?”

“Well you could go home if you hadn’t made it Tardis proof” the Doctor was clearly still annoyed.

“It’s only the Tower, you should be able to find somewhere in London,” Kate said reasonably, glad of the rescue but just wanting to get home. “Where did the comms device end up?” she gave up looking through the pockets of her neatly folded jacket and coat.

“Ah, I’m afraid it and your phone didn’t get rescued” Osgood explained. “The Tardis arrived seconds before we were about to burn up”

“We’re not using those words!” Kate was illogically annoyed.

“Ma’am” Osgood reacted to her tone by reverting to type. “The Doctor only had time to haul us both aboard before she had to dematerialise”

“I had to extend the force field around the craft as it exploded” the Doctor explained. “The propulsion system would have left a nasty stain if it had exploded in your atmosphere” 

“We’ve been in the Tardis for about four hours” Osgood explained, waiting for Kate to put her jacket on and grab her coat before they followed the Doctor out of the room.

They had arrived in the main control room and Kate turned in a slow circle. “It’s a bit different” she turned to Osgood and saw her watching her nervously. “I like it, it’s nice and bright” she put her hands in her pockets and leaned against a railing.

“Closer to what your Dad would recognise” the blonde smiled.

“The decor is, yes” Kate winked at Osgood and was relieved to see a smile in response. “Sorry I was grumpy back there,” she said quietly, moving to stand beside the brunette. “It just feels like a few minutes ago I thought we were both dead”

“I understand” Osgood nodded and bumped her hip against Kate’s “The Tardis was impressed with what you’d done with my wrist” she held up her right hand, turning it and flexing her wrist to show Kate she had full movement. 

“Always good to know those anatomy lectures weren’t wasted” Kate looked down at her shoes. “Are you really OK, with us I mean” 

“I am if you are but I’ll understand if you want to go back to just being colleagues” Osgood started to lay the groundwork for Kate to back away from a relationship.

“No, I don’t want that, well I do want to work with you but I’d quite like to cuddle as well” Kate couldn’t believe that she was this nervous, she was in her fifties and had managed a few successful relationships in her time. Well maybe not successful but she knew that she was already more invested in where they’d end up together than she had been in many years. “Honestly, I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to pretend the confessions never happened” she laced her fingers through Osgood’s, squeezing gently. “I have some fairly spectacular baggage and Geneva will have a fit if we try to make a go of this”

“Everything about you is fairly spectacular” Osgood grinned as Kate blushed and looked down at their joined hands. “And we’ve just cheated death, again, so Geneva can take a running jump” she declared with a nod.

Kate turned to stand in front of the younger woman, sliding her hands around her waist as she dipped down and kissed her slowly. They were interrupted several minutes later by a polite cough and then a slightly less polite sigh “There’s a message from your people, can you answer it and then tell Sexy to find you a room?”

Kate pulled back, ignoring the Doctor’s sarcasm as the smile built on her face. “If my stupid grin looks like your stupid grin this won’t stay a secret for long” she husked before licking her lips and taking another step back. “What’s the message?” she turned to the Doctor.

“It says ‘hope you managed to pick up KLS and Os…..pls confirm’ honestly, are you employing 12-year-olds?” she frowned. “It was one more letter to type your name!”

“Just tell them we’re safe and will be back soon” Kate couldn’t stop smiling, the euphoria of surviving being topped by the kiss she’d just shared. “Unless you can send them coordinates of where you’re going to drop us off?” she raised an eyebrow in hope.

“How about I take you to this little planet I know, you can have a week on an island paradise just the two of you before I drop you back at home?” the Doctor raised both eyebrows.

“I think we’d just like to go home please, thank you,” Osgood said softly, standing beside Kate and putting her arm around her waist. “But can we keep that offer for another time?”

“Os” Kate sighed gently, although she wasn’t entirely sure herself if she was chastising the suggestion of a raincheck from the Doctor or the request to get back to work.

“You owe me dinner with tiramisu” Osgood reminded her, pushing her glasses up her nose. “And we aren’t really dressed for an island getaway” she pointed out practically.

“The Tardis could sort you out with some clothes” the Doctor suggested as she twisted two dials and squinted at a display next to a lever.

Kate and Os both looked the Doctor up and down and turned to each other, grinning as they both shook their heads. “Don’t you have any companions with you?” Kate asked, changing the subject.

“I did ask someone, he asked for some time to think about it” she shrugged. “Might pop back to see him after I drop you off, actually” she smiled and nodded to herself.

“Send us the name and a photo, you know we like to keep track” Osgood reminded her as the central console stopped moving and the lights dimmed a little.

“Right, let’s see where we are” the Doctor smiled and winked at the two women, turning towards the doors. 

“Wait” Kate reached out and touched her arm, seeing the look of confusion. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I don’t know how you knew we needed you, but thank you for coming to the rescue again” she held out her hand.

The Doctor looked down and reached for a handshake, pulling on Kate as their hands touched and wrapping her arms around the taller blonde. “I made a promise” she closed her eyes and swallowed. “And now I know you’re together it includes both of you” she smiled at a surprised Osgood. 

“How did you know?” Osgood asked.

“Bonnie” the Doctor smiled.

Osgood blinked a couple of times glancing at Kate nervously. “Bonnie, but how did she….”

“Your link is very weak but it’s still there” the Doctor interrupted. “She didn’t know what was happening but knew it was something bad”

“And she got a message to you?” Osgood glanced at Kate again, she was looking confused.

“In a roundabout way” the Doctor shrugged the question off and took Osgood’s hand in hers. “I’m a big fan, remember?” she winked at the blushing brunette.

“What are you talking about?” Kate couldn’t keep quiet any longer, “Who is Bonnie?” she frowned.

“Mutual friend” the two women both said at the same time, smiling at each other before Osgood took two steps to stand in front of Kate. “Let’s get back to work?” she planted a brief kiss to forestall whatever question Kate was about to ask and waited for the nod of confirmation. 

********************************************

The three women stepped out into bright afternoon sunlight, faced with slate-carved walls and a view of a monument ahead of them. “The Memorial” Kate said, squinting into the sun and glancing around to make sure nobody had seen them arrive.

“Tower should be just over there” Osgood nodded and pressed a button on the side of her watch. “They should be picking up my signal now” as she spoke they heard a car screech to a halt and saw Shindi and Carter walking briskly towards them several seconds later. 

“That was quick” Kate was impressed and turned to thank the Doctor once more, just catching the Tardis door closing before the familiar noise started and air rushed in to replace the dematerialised blue box. “I do love that noise” she whispered to Osgood.

“Dr. Stewart, Miss Osgood” Shindi stopped in front of them. “Good to have you both back”

“Doctor didn’t stay around for us to thank him?” Carter asked.

Kate and Osgood smiled and glanced at each other. “We have a lot to catch you up on,” Kate said, moving towards the front of the memorial. “Let’s get back to the Tower, I could murder a cuppa”

**********************************************

Kate sat back in her chair, sipping her wine and watching the brunette across from her. “I’m glad I didn’t ask for two spoons” she grinned as Osgood blushed.

“You could have had some” she protested, wiping her mouth with the linen napkin to make sure she didn’t have chocolate on her lips.

“I’m rather looking forward to tasting it later” Kate winked and signaled the waiter for the bill.

After arguing over who was paying, and Kate winning this time, they walked towards Kate’s house. Osgood reached out and hooked her index finger in Kate’s. “This OK?” she checked and watched the grin build on the blonde’s face. “You’re doing the stupid grin thing again” she nudged Kate’s shoulder with her own.

“So it would seem” Kate wasn’t even going to try to deny it, she felt as if she was walking on air since they had returned. “I’m sorry it took us till now to get to this place”

Osgood smiled “We have had quite a hectic week, what with being shot at, blown up, jumping to space and almost dying”

“They were easier than explaining this to Geneva” Kate lifted Osgood’s hand, kissing her fingers before wrapping her own around them.

“I almost wish I’d been listening in to that call……...almost” Osgood looked up at the buildings surrounding them. “What did you have to give them?” she asked quietly.

“Give them?” Kate was confused.

“What did they want in return for us being allowed to canoodle?” Osgood smiled at the chuckle from the blonde.

“I have no idea what they wanted, I told them what was going to happen and that we’d retire to a tropical island on a distant planet if they didn’t like it” Kate continued to walk but only managed another step before their joined hands stopped her as Osgood stopped walking.

“You……” Osgood couldn’t really find the words to express her shock. “But you’re a Lethbridge-Stewart” she finally got out. “UNIT is your life’s work”

“It still is but…..” Kate shook her head. “What we do is important and I’ll continue to protect the planet but the bureaucracy of old men in Geneva will not tell me who I can sleep with while I’m doing it”

Osgood stared at her, blinking several times before she responded. “Getting a bit ahead of yourself, aren’t you?”

Kate blushed and looked down to their joined hands before looking up to apologise “I’m sorry I…” the rest was cut off by soft lips on her own and by the time the passing taxi driver wolf-whistled at them several minutes later she couldn’t remember what she had been talking about. “Nightcap?” she asked, clearing her throat at the sudden huskiness.

Osgood’s only answer was a hit from her inhaler and a fast-paced walk, leaving Kate lengthening her stride to catch up and chuckling at the determined look on the brunette’s face.


End file.
